The 43^rd global conference of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) was held in San Jose just a few days ago, and it was a momentous occasion not just for Costa Rica as a host country clearly desiring to become a significant force in Information Technology in Latin America, but also for everyone who makes a living on the Internet.

The conference got underway with a thoughtful speech by President Laura Chinchilla, who called attention to Costa Rica’s commitment to peace, democracy, freedom, and education. She also mentioned our nation’s initiative to become a Network Access Point for Central America, and to provide broadband access to more than 50 percent of the country -no small feat due to our challenging topography and the fact that we are still mired in the Third World.

Our President then got far more technical with her speech, mentioning that the country is still engaged in transitioning to the IPv6 addressing system and implementation of the IPTV protocol, scheduled to be completed by 2017. Costa Rica is still working towards developing a solid web-based applications framework, something that Web 2.0 introduced a few years ago and our country was slow to adopt.

Just before wrapping up her speech with a warning against measures that would restrict Internet freedom, like SOPA, a bit of self-regard crept up as our President reminded the attendants that she is the godmother of the Child Online Protection (COP) initiative being spearheaded by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). While this may seem similar to claim that the former Vice President of the United States Al Gore is the “father of the Internet”, our President has been very involved in ITU’s COP program.

Dot Brand Top-Level Domains (TLDs)

As reported on a press release published on the Wall Street Journal, there is a high level of interest by major companies to register the new Dot Brand TLDs. Registry provider Afilias conducted a survey that indicates most businesses would be interested in registering new domains like .ibm or .apple. This new domain initiative will go a long way in terms of branding, security and customer engagement.

Law Enforcement and Domain Registration

For all the advocacy of Internet freedom that our President advocated at ICANN 43, international representatives of top level law enforcement agencies -particularly from the United States- were visible participants at the conference. Author Michael H. Berkens of domain registration industry site thedomains.com reported on the presence of several attendants with badges indicating that they were with the U.S. Department of Justice, FBI, ICE, Interpol, and Homeland Security.

Mr. Berkens also mentioned that, as stakeholders in the domain registration industry, the presence of high profile law enforcement at ICANN 43 may indicate that registrars may soon have to implement strong “know your customer” measures similar to those taken by banks these days. This means lesser privacy in domain registration, more compliance work for registrars, and a higher cost to customers.